It’s strange to me how quickly I wax and wane between the world of nerd ministry being so widely done in one moment and then feel like every new ministry is a secret and rare thing to find. How can something be so incredible novel and yet seem so prevalent? I think this is the fascinating world of being a researcher in this world. I am constantly surrounded by it, so it feels like it is everywhere. But the truth is… Checkpoint may have been your first toe in the water with nerd ministry. That is humbling and intimidating all at once. Most of the entry points into nerd ministry are small, when considered within the scope of the Internet. But the more we share this space and bring our ministries together… well, that’s kind of the whole Body of Christ thing. Can’t Christ’s Body being wearing suspenders or holding a Joycon? A convo for another day, I suppose... these quick catalogues of people in nerd ministry are intended to be brief ventures into the world of other ministries, so I will end my waxing poetic here… enjoy the list!
Reminder: These will be specifically related to nerd ministry, so be aware that these are not the be-all, end-all of resources. There are also only so many hours in the week - so these will be brief and unedited. I also will not be discriminating against these sources much. I don’t condone or approve of the theology, actions, or anything else that these entities might be involved with. These are purely things I find interesting or worth considering. Venture at your own risk or reward.
One of these days (maybe sooner than we think), Checkpoint will be hosting our own Comic-Con, I just know it. Until then, I am thankful for ministries like LTN who are paving the way forward in this space. I plan to attend this conference and would love to invite any in our community to join alongside me and learn from the lineup of keynote speakers. I am bummed that Jesus Otaku doesn’t seem to be involved, but thrilled to see Mike Perna and Hector Miray (both of whom have or will appear on Nerds of Pray).
Have you heard of any other nerd ministries hosting conventions? I’ve also seen SquadCon from God Squad Church, but have yet to line up with the schedule.
If you haven’t watched this video yet, I would recommend giving it a quick look. Souzy is the lead pastor at God Squad Church and has been in the space of online church building for many years now. In this video, he is responding to an article that decries the trend of digital ministry. I believe that Souzy makes some great arguments and also concedes some very valid points to the article. If you are at all interested in the arguments regarding if online church is possible, then this is a great one to watch.
One thing that I will never run out of are delightful authors, speakers, and inspirational folks writing nerdy devotional blogs. Shaneen is one of them and is doing an excellent job producing resources and studies to go along with the digital material. She will also be on the Nerds of Pray podcast very soon!
Okay, so this isn’t exactly ministry, but I include it because I think it shows an important reminder of why these ministries are so needed. If IKEA has decided that nerds, geeks, and gamers are a demographic worth targeting, then why on earth is the church not doing a better job with that, too? It just makes sense to follow the market trends to a certain extent. While we shouldn’t seek to do as the world does, or whatever argument one might try to make against this point, at the very least consider that we should pay attention to what leading marketers are paying attention to. If gaming is prevalent enough to target the Dutch, then it’s time we step up our game.
Shameless self-promo, but we have to shout out our latest episode of the Nerds of Pray podcast. We sat down with Hector Miray and broke down his history with nerd ministry and how he came to author so many devotional books chock full of nerdy material. It’s a great listen and we love the stuff that Hector is getting into!
And that wraps up this Nerd of Mouth post. What did you think? Was this helpful? Encouraging? Inspiring? Or do you have some ideas of how we could make it better? Even better, would you be interested in doing it better? For now, that’s where we’ll leave it. Send ideas for improvement or ideas to be included to checkpointchurch@gmail.com.
Until next time,
God loves you.
We love you. You matter.
Buh-bye!
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